{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Ep 356 | The History of Singapore (Part 8)","description":"We left off last time with Singapore being granted sovereignty by Britain on June 3, 1959, and Tunku Abdul Rahman\u2019s \u201cGrand Design\u201d speech concerning a merger between Malaysia and Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew took this pro-merger message directly to the people of Singapore. We\u2019ll see how Lee deals with the political left by launching Operation Coldstore on February 2, 1963. Once the merger was completed, Singapore and Malaysia gave it their best shot to make it work. Happening concurrently with this sensitive time in Singapore\u2019s history, Indonesia\u2019s President Sukarno, in May of 1964 spoke out against the merger and began the period known as Konfrontasi or confrontation. We\u2019ll see how things weren\u2019t fated to succeed as the two leaders envisioned. Both The Tunku and the PAP, despite promises not to get mixed up in each others\u2019 politics, fielded their own candidates in each other\u2019s election. The heat started to rise and tempers flared, leading to riots in July and September 1964. We\u2019ll also see how the March 1965 bombing of MacDonald House also created a frightening atmosphere in Singapore. We close with the debate over privileges enjoyed by indigenous Malays in Article 153 of the Constitution and how it conflicted with Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s concept of a Malaysian Malaysia. We\u2019ll finish things off with the exit of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia and its independence on August 9, 1965. We\u2019ll close the episode with an excerpt from one of Singapore\u2019s founding father S. Rajaratnam\u2019s speech before the United Nations. Irene Ng books of S. Rajaratnam: Amazon Link - https:\/\/a.co\/d\/eFD4f4g Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm\/adchoices ","author_name":"The China History Podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/teacup.media\/chinahistorypodcast","html":"